The present invention generally relates to a latch releasing mechanism and, more particularly, to a foot-operated latch releasing mechanism for use with automobile doors.
In general, an automobile of a type having a relatively large, covered cargo compartment behind the driver's seat, such as a van or a like commercial car, has a rear hatch door at the rear of the vehicle body for selectively opening and closing the rear opening of the vehicle body in readiness for the loading and unloading of cargos into and from the cargo compartment, respectively. This rear hatch door is supported for movement between opened and closed positions and is equipped with a door latch assembly for latching the rear hatch door in the closed position automatically when moved thereto. In addition to the door latch assembly, a biasing element, such as a torsion spring or a compression spring, is generally utilized to forcibly move the rear hatch door from the closed position a predetermined distance towards the opened position, when and after the latch assembly has been released, so that the rear hatch door can thereafter be moved manually towards the opened position. The latch assembly generally comprises a claw member operatively carried by the vehicle body adjacent the rear opening for movement between latched and unlatched positions, a lift spring element for biasing the claw member to assume the unlatched position and a striker fixedly carried by the vehicle body adjacent the claw member and engageable with the claw member to move the latter towards the latched position against the lift spring element.
In order to release the door latch assembly in readiness for the opening of the rear hatch door, there has been employed a latch releasing mechanism which comprises a manipulatable member operatively carried by the rear hatch door and a latch lever for transmitting a movement of the manipulatable member such that, when the manipulatable member is depressed or pulled by the application of an external pushing or pulling force while the rear hatch door is in the closed position, the claw member disengages from the striker to permit the rear hatch door to be opened. When the rear hatch door in the opened position is moved towards the closed position, the claw member is moved by the action of the lift spring element in contact with the striker and is then firmly engaged with, or more specifically, firmly arrests the striker to latch the rear hatch door in the closed position.
An example of the conventional door lock comprised of the door latch assembly and the latch releasing mechanism both of the constructions described above is disclosed in any one of the U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,073,170 and 4,194,377 (the latter corresponding to the Japanese Laid-open Utility Model Publication No. 52-114006 laid open to public inspection on Mar. 16, 1979) and the Japanese Laid-open Utility Model Publication No. 54-22722 laid open to public inspection on Feb. 14, 1979, although the manipulatable member employed in any one of these prior art references is comprised of a push-button with or without a cylinder lock built therein. In any event, the conventional door lock of the type referred to above functions satisfactorily.
However, it has been found inconvenient to manipulate the latch releasing mechanism particularly when both hands of the driver or a person carrying a cargo are occupied simultaneously. More specifically, when the driver or person carrying a cargo desires to open the rear hatch door in anticipation of the loading of the cargo into the cargo compartment, he or she has to put down the cargo temporarily so that he or she can manipulate the latch releasing mechanism. This procedure is not only time-consuming and uneconomical, but also tiring and laborious depending on the weight of the cargo to be loaded or unloaded.